Heat dissipation fan

ABSTRACT

A heat dissipation fan used in a frame server, includes a rotation axis and a plurality of fan blades. The rotation axis is composed of a main portion and an extension portion, and the diameter of the main portion is greater than that of the extension portion. The fan blades extend outward from the rotation axis, and are utilized to drive the wind from one side of the rotation axis to the other side of the rotation axis in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis. As such, greatly increase the air cutting area of the fan blades. In this manner, in the server frame studded with electronic devices and having very limited heat dissipation space, the heat dissipation efficiency of the server can be raised significantly, so that the electronic devices may function normally and efficiently.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

The invention relates a heat dissipation fan used for a server, and inparticular to a heat dissipation fan used for raising the heatdissipation efficiency of a server.

2. Related Art

Nowadays, due to the progress and development of science and technology,the prices of the various computer related equipment have been reducedsignificantly, and among them, the price of server is particularly so.As such, computer has become a daily necessity of most of the people.

Usually, a server is composed of a main frame, which is provided with aplurality of server frames, and that are retractably disposed in themain frame. Thus, in the server frame a plurality of electronic devicesare provided for use, such as the hard disk. In general, a server frameis of a specific height, thus the spacing between the electronic devicesis rather limited. Due to the fact that heat is generated in theoperation of the electronic device, thus, the utilization of heatdissipation technology to dissipate the heat generated during theoperation of the various electronic devices from the server having lowprofile and limited spacings between/among the electronic devices toachieve the heat dissipation efficiency is an important task in thisfield.

In this respect, refer to FIG. 1 for a cross-section view of a severframe having the electronic devices disposed therein according to priorart. As shown in FIG. 1, a server frame 10 is provided with a pluralityof hot-pluggable hard disk 20 and a turbo fan 30 used for heatdissipation, thus the heat generated during the operation of the harddisk 20 can be carried out of the server through the operation of theturbo fan 30. As shown in FIG. 1, the turbo fan 30 is provided with anouter shell 31, a rotation axis 32, and a plurality of fan blades 33.The rotation axis 32 is disposed in the outer shell 31, and the fanblades 33 are extended outward from the rotation axis 32. However, sincethe length of the rotation axis 32 is rather short, thus the area of theair cut through by the fan blade 33 used to carry out the heat throughits rotation is rather limited. As such, the heat dissipation efficiencyof the turbo fan 30 is not sufficient to meet the design requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the problems and shortcomings of the prior art, the objectiveof the invention is to provide a heat dissipation fan used in a framedserver, thus raising the heat dissipation efficiency of the serversignificantly.

Therefore, to overcome and improve the above-mentioned problems, theinvention provides a heat dissipation fan for a server frame, which canbe utilized to dissipate the heat generated by the electronic devices ina server. The heat dissipation fan includes a rotation axis and aplurality of fan blades. The rotation axis has an interconnected mainportion and an extension portion. The main portion includes a rotationdevice, and the heat dissipation direction of the heat source isperpendicular to the rotation axis, the length of the main portion isequivalent to that of the extension portion. Namely, the total length ofthe rotation axis is twice that of the main portion.

The fan blades are connected to the main portion and the extensionportion. Wherein, the wind blowing direction of the heat dissipation fanis along the axial direction of the rotation axis, so that wind isgenerated from one side of the rotation axis to the other side of therotation axis by the fan blades in a direction perpendicular to that ofthe rotation axis.

Thus, the objective of the invention is achieved through the speciallydesigned rotation axis having extension portion of smaller diameter, soas to raise the air-cutting area of the fan blade significantly. Thus,the area of the air cut by the fan blades extend outward from the mainportion and extension portion is much larger than the area cut only bythe fan blades extending outward from the main portion. As such, theincrease of the air-cutting area of the fan blade can be realized byincreasing the length of the extension portion of the heat dissipationfan, so as to raise the heat dissipation efficiency of the serverstudded with various electronic devices and having limited heatdissipation space, so that the various electronic devices in the servermay function normally.

Further scope of applicability of the invention will become apparentfrom the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should beunderstood that the detailed description and specific examples, whileindicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way ofillustration only, since various changes and modifications within thespirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilledin the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become more fully understood from the detaileddescription given hereinbelow for illustration only, and thus are notlimitative of the invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-section view of a sever frame having the electronicdevices disposed therein according to prior art;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of a sever frame having the electronicdevices disposed therein according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a heat dissipation fan according to anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a cross section view of a main portion of a heat dissipationfan according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The purpose, construction, features, and functions of the invention canbe appreciated and understood more thoroughly through the followingdetailed description with reference to the attached drawings.

In general, the server frame is designed to have a specific size, thus,usually, the space reserved for the electronic devices disposed thereinis rather limited to increase the space utilization rate of a server. Assuch, the heat generated during the operation of the electronic devicesis carried away by the heat dissipation device disposed in the server,so that the electronic devices may function normally and efficiently.

Usually, in a server, the heat dissipation fan is utilized as the heatdissipation device, thus the size of its heat dissipation efficiencydepends on the air cutting area of the fan blade of the heat dissipationfan. So, presently, the heat dissipation in a server is realized througha turbo fan 30 in consideration of the limited space available. However,according to the design of the turbo fan 30, the direction of the windis parallel to the axial direction of the rotation axis 32. Therefore,the air cutting area of the fan blades 33 of the turbo fan 30 may onlycover the space outside the rotation axis 32. As such, the heatdissipation efficiency of the turbo fan 30 is not quite satisfactory. Inthis respect, refer to the cross section view of a server frame havingelectronic devices disposed therein according to the prior art as shownin FIG. 1.

Thus, according to the above description it is evident that, the aircutting area of the fan blades must be increased to raise the heatdissipation efficiency of the heat dissipation fan in a server. Thus,the heat dissipation fan must be redesigned to increase the air cuttingarea of the fan blades.

Refer to FIG. 2 for a cross-section view of a server frame having theelectronic devices disposed therein according to an embodiment of theinvention. Also, refer to FIG. 3 for a perspective view of a heatdissipation fan according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown inFIG. 2, the inside of server frame 10 is provided with a plurality ofhot-pluggable hard disks 20, and a heat dissipation fan 40, so that theheat generated during the operation of the hard disk 20 can be carriedout of the server in conjunction with the rotation of the heatdissipation fan 40. As shown in the drawing, the heat dissipation fan 40is composed of a shell 41, a rotation axis 42, and a plurality of fanblades 43.

The rotation axis 42 is disposed inside the shell 41, the heat generatedduring the operation of the electronic devices is dissipated in the heatdissipation direction 21 perpendicular to the rotation axis 32, and therotation axis 42 is integrally formed by a main portion 421 and anextension portion 422. The diameter of the main portion 421 is greaterthan that of the extension portion 422, and the length of the mainportion 421 is equal to the length of the extension portion 422 at most.Wherein, the main portion includes a transmission device, such as a fanmotor. In this respect, refer to FIG. 4 for a cross-section view of amain portion 421. As shown in FIG. 4, the fan motor 50 is mounted on themain portion 421, and when in operation, it can drive the rotation axis32 to rotate.

The fan blade 43 may be connected to both the main portion 421 and theextension portion 422, the wind blowing direction of the heatdissipation fan is along the axial direction of the rotation axis, sothat the wind may be carried from one side of the rotation axis 42 tothe other side of the rotation axis 42.

Through the special design of the smaller diameter extension portion 422of the rotation axis of the rotation axis 32, the air cutting area ofthe fan blades 43 is increased significantly. Since the air cutting areaof the fan blade 43 for the main portion 421 and extension portion 422combined is larger than that for the fan blades 43 of the main portion421 alone. In this manner, the air cutting area of the fan blades 43 maybe raised by increasing the length of the extension portion 422 in theheat dissipation fan 40.

In comparing the heat dissipation fan 40 of FIG. 2 with the turbo fan 30of FIG. 1, it is evident that, the size of main portion 421 of the heatdissipation fan 40 is equivalent to that of the rotation axis 32 of theturbo fan 30, so that the space outside the main portion 421 of the heatdissipation fan 40 may be used to accommodate the extension portion 422,hereby raising the air cutting area of the fan blades 43. This is quitedifferent from that of the turbo fan 30 in the prior art, wherein, therotation axis 32 occupies too much space in the turbo fan 30. Inaddition, usually, the number of turbo fans 30 used in the respectiveserver frame 20 is quite enormous, thus in the prior art, the rotationaxis 32 occupies too much space in the server frame 20. In contrast, inthe invention, the main portion 421 of the respective heat dissipationfan 40 is required to occupy only a small portion of the space in theheat dissipation fan, and the number of the heat dissipation fans 40disposed in the server frame 10 is quite few, so that in the invention,the main portion 421 occupies only relatively small portion of space inserver frame 10. The space thus saved can be used to accommodate fanblades 43, hereby raising the heat dissipation efficiency significantly.In this manner, in the server frame 10 studded with hard disk 20 andhaving very limited heat dissipation space, the heat dissipationefficiency of the server can be raised enormously, so that the hard disk20 may function normally and efficiently.

Moreover, in the afore-mentioned structure, the number of heatdissipation fans 40 utilized in the server can be significantly reduced,thus the cost spent on checking and maintaining the respective heatdissipation fans may also be reduced.

Summing up the above, in comparison, the space occupied by the heatdissipation fan 40 of the invention is three and a half times that ofthe turbo fan 30 of the prior art as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2respectively. However, it is evident that the air cutting area of thefan blade 43 of the invention is increased significantly.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same maybe varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intendedto be included within the scope of the following claims.

1. A heat dissipation fan utilized in a server frame for accommodatingelectronic devices, which generate heat while in operation, comprising:a rotating shaft, containing a main portion and an extension portion,said main portion includes a rotation device, and heat generated fromelectronic devices is dissipated in the direction perpendicular to saidrotation axis; and a plurality of fan blades, connected to said mainportion and said extension portion; wherein the flow direction of saidheat dissipation fan is in the axial direction of said rotation axis. 2.The heat dissipation fan of claim 1, wherein said rotation axis isintegrally formed.
 3. The heat dissipation fan of claim 1, wherein thelength of said extension portion is at least equivalent to that of saidmain portion.
 4. The heat dissipation fan of claim 1, wherein thediameter of said main portion is larger than the diameter of saidextension portion.
 5. The heat dissipation fan of claim 1, wherein saidrotation device includes a fan motor.